Have Scarlet Witch's MCU powers been seen in the comics?

Question

The recently released Marvel character descriptions state:

Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen)is the beautiful and mysterious twin sister of Pietro. Possessing the powers of mental manipulation and telekinesis, Wanda as Scarlet Witch is able to attack her enemies from the inside out. Along with her brother, she is the product of Baron Strucker’s experiment.

When I went on Scarlet Witch's Wikipedia page, I couldn't find any mention of hypnosis or telekinesis. Obviously the MCU changes a lot of things, but has any iteration of the Scarlet witch character had these or similar powers, or does MCU Scarlet Witch have a totally new power set?

Answer 1

Technically, no. No existing comic-version or tv version of Scarlet Witch has telepathy and telekinetic powers.

That said, according to Marvel her comic powers include her hex-spheres, reality altering, and some basic sorcery.

The Scarlet Witch can tap into mystic energy for reality-altering effects; this power was formerly limited to the creation of "hex-spheres" of reality-disrupting quasi-psionic force to cause molecular disturbances in a target's probability field, resulting in spontaneous combustion, deflection of objects in flight, and so on. She later became able to alter reality on a far greater scale, creating entire armies of enemies from nowhere. Although the Scarlet Witch has been trained in basic sorcery techniques, she lacks the specialized mystic training required to fully control her power.

Now, she could use a combination of those powers to achieve similar effects (altering reality or using magic as a substitute for telekinesis, or sorcery to mess with minds), but she does not command true telekinesis or telepathy powers.

Answer 2

As far as I know, every iteration of Wanda Maximoff in the comics has had, essentially, the same power set. How those powers are described has been updated over the years (in-universe, either because she learned more about them, or because someone came along and enhanced them.) However, the one constant that has always been there is that she's magic.

Wanda Maximoff from Earth-616 (Mainsteam Marvel)

Early on, it seemed like her power was similar to other mutants that could manipulate energy; she can throw "hex bolts" that have various effects on their target. This would be a natural variation on her father's ability to manipulate magnetic fields.

However, we later learn that, in Wanda's case, direct intervention by a god changed her power to give her the ability to manipulate Chaos Magic. Once she learned how to fully harness her power, she was able to produce a nearly unlimited set of "reality-warping" effects. This puts her squarely in the category of "true magicians" like Dr. Strange. Indeed, she seems to be one of the most powerful such magicians, given the things she is able to do:

• She permanently altered the entirety of reality to begin the House of M storyline
• She removed the mutant abilities from ~99.9% of mutants instantly at the conclusion of House of M

Wanda Maximoff from Earth-99999 (MCU)

The powers she is described as having in the MCU universe, so far, as nothing like the ones she has in the comics. This seems odd, given that we've already established that magic is a real thing in the Marvel Universe -- Loki uses what is routinely called "magic" and "sorcery". We also know that Dr. Strange exists in the MCU and is even getting his own movie, and it's really hard to have Dr. Strange without magic.

However, the powers that she has do seem to make more sense given how she got them -- from HYDRA experimenting with Loki's scepter, the one he lost in the Avengers. Given that she wasn't born with powers, and that the scepter is likely the Mind Infinity Stone, means that her developing mental powers is more likely than developing an innate talent for magic.

Other Wanda's

Scarlet Witch appears in a ton of alternative Marvel universes, as she's a pretty major player in both the X-Men and the Avengers worlds (being one of the only mutant Avengers, plus Magneto's daughter). As far as I know, all of those iterations of her have the same set of powers from the same source -- Chaos Magic.

Answer 3

In X-Men # 4: The Brotherhood of Mutants in 1964 (great read, by the way) she does appear to use telekinetic-like abilities to bring down wood and debris on Warren Worthington III/The Angel, after seeing the X-Man next to her unconscious brother. (Note: I only add Angel's real name to avoid confusion with Angel Salvadore/Angel, who was portrayed by Zoe Kravitz in X-Men: First Class in 2011). Also, in the video game X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, one of her Hex powers allow her to confuse an enemy, causing them to attack other enemies. However, as far as straight-up telepathy or telekinesis goes, Avengers: Age of Ultron is the first known (to me, anyway) case; all other instances all normally labelled as 'effects of Chaos Magic'. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Wanda DOES have probability manipulation.

How do you think she survived the bomb? Luck? Wanda makes luck.

She does it again in the Hydra experiments. She altered probability so she and her brother could survive, note that she is cautious by nature and a shrewd tactician.

Her probability powers are a passive ability, used subconsciously, invisible yet with awesome potential. It's a field that surrounds her and protects her.

What happened to Pietro when he moved out of her "field"? He died.

Note that she grows stronger while her brother's powers are static. That is the probability power acting as an engine.

The TK, mind powers, TP are just bolt ons to the "improbability drive", which will also fuel Chaos Magic when Dr Strange teaches her that skill.

Answer 5

Her powers have been seen, the characters name is Jean Grey however (Telekinesis and Mind Control). Marvel seems a little scared of magic still. We'll see how they handle "mystic energies" when they get around to Doctor Strange, rumour is they're pulling the plug on Iron Fist on Netflix due to his mystic nature.

Answer 6

Her power set appears to consist of Jean Grey's powers, along with telekinesis and telepathy. Marvel seems to be afraid of magic and gods, it makes me wonder how they will handle Dr. Strange, probably "controlling energies"